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Land use conflicts are increasing as land pressures grow due to population increase, existing land degradation and access to previously restricted lands is opened. This is particularly the case in pastoral areas often assumed to be ‘free lands’ and where pastoralists are poorly equipped to protect their lands from sale or encroachment with poor tenure security. Where land is taken by government for infrastructural or agricultural schemes, rarely is compensation provided. Appropriate land use planning at different levels – local to national – that considers the needs, interests and priorities of different land users including normally marginalized groups such as pastoralists is needed.